WASHINGTON, March 16 - Dr. Phyllis Schneck, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Global Public Sector, McAfee, told the Committee on Homeland Security this morning that private sector companies need stronger protections in sharing global threat intelligence to better protect public and private sector customers and critical infrastructure from rapidly escalating cyber security challenges. By enabling private companies to share more, government and industry can make more efficient use of the public-private collaboration organizations they have created.

Dr. Schneck, who testified before the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies, outlined some policy recommendations to improve public/private sector information sharing that is essential to provide the government with the capabilities it needs to respond to the cyber threat.

She also discussed the impact of two major cyber attacks that succeeded in extracting billions of dollars of intellectual property from leading American companies in the information technology and energy sectors. The first, Operation Aurora, was a highly sophisticated series of cyber attacks that targeted Google and at least 20 other companies. Dr. Schneck also testified about Night Dragon, a series of cyber attacks on global oil, energy, and petrochemical companies orchestrated with the apparent intent of stealing sensitive information such as operation details, exploration research, and financial data.

She spoke about McAfee Global Threat Intelligence, which offers the most comprehensive threat intelligence in the industry, and how it was used to detect and remediate both the Operation Aurora and Night Dragon cyber attacks. With visibility across all key threat vectors and a view into the latest vulnerabilities across the IT industry, McAfee Global Threat Intelligence correlates real-world data collected from millions of sensors around the globe and delivers real-time, and often predictive, protection via its integrated security solutions.

During her testimony, Dr. Schneck also made several recommendations to the Committee to enhance protection of our critical infrastructure from the cyber attack:

The cyber security challenge faced by our country is a serious matter that requires an evolution in the way in which both the public and private sectors collaborate. Leading information technology companies and their customers are uniquely positioned to act as early warning systems that can identify and help address cyber security attacks as a real-time cyber immune system. But only the government can implement the complex set of organizational and policy responses necessary to enable data analysis and distribution across the private sector to counter the growing cyber security threat.

Private companies need protected ways to share their big picture research findings with the government without loss of trust or creation of material events for stockholders, so that the most significant cyber security information is expeditiously actionable. This is the human component of what Global Threat Intelligence does at machine speed. We need both in order to defeat cyber adversaries, whose aim is to harm our way of life.

Broad-based situational awareness is vital to securing our global cyber systems and ensuring our national security. Policies that enable companies and governments to work together, using global threat intelligence (e.g. combining cyber, energy, finance and other data) to enhance correlation and predictive capabilities are critical to real-time responsiveness within the network switching/routing fabric should be pursued.

McAfee is a major provider of cybersecurity solutions to the federal government. The company deployed the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Host Based Security System (HBSS) solution which provides five-plus million desktops, servers and laptops across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). HBSS monitors, detects, and counters against known cyber-threats to the DoD’s enterprise architecture. McAfee also managed the fielding and deployment of the HBSS for the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) for the U.S. Air Force.

About McAfeeMcAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), is the world's largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the Internet, browse and shop the Web more securely. Backed by its unrivaled Global Threat Intelligence, McAfee creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the public sector and service providers by enabling them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions, identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security. McAfee is relentlessly focused on constantly finding new ways to keep our customers safe. http://www.mcafee.com